A Guide for Using The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane in the Classroom Based on the book written by Joanna Cole This guide written by Greg Young, M.S. Ed. Teacher Created Resources, Inc. 6421 Industry Way Westminster, CA 92683 www.teachercreated.com ISBN: 978-1-57690-089-5 1996 Teacher Created Resources, Inc. Reprinted, 2010 Made in U.S.A. Edited by Mary Kaye Taggart Illustrated by Howard Chaney Cover Art by Wendy Chang & Diane Birnbaum The classroom teacher may reproduce copies of materials in this book for classroom use only. The reproduction of any part for an entire school or school system is strictly prohibited. No part of this publication may be transmitted, stored, or recorded in any form without written permission from the publisher.
Table of Contents Introduction................................................................... 3 About the Author Joanna Cole..................................................... 4 Book Summary................................................................. 5 Before the Book (Pre-reading Activities) Hot and Cold............................................................... 6 Make Your Own Thermometer.................................................. 7 A Degree in History.......................................................... 8 Temperature and Height....................................................... 9 Temperatures Around a Building............................................... 12 Hands-On Lessons Atmosphere and Air Pressure Air Pressure and Elevation.................................................. 15 Atmospheric Layers....................................................... 16 Air Pressure Demonstration................................................. 17 Barometers and Air Pressure................................................. 18 Wind The Beaufort Scale........................................................ 19 Building an Anemometer................................................... 20 Using Your Anemometer................................................... 21 Building a Weather Vane................................................... 22 Weather Vane Patterns..................................................... 23 Using Your Weather Vane................................................... 24 Density of Air Investigating Density of Air................................................. 25 Humidity Dew Point............................................................... 26 Build a Sling Psychrometer.................................................. 27 Clouds Cloud Formation.......................................................... 30 Cloud in a Bottle Teacher Demonstration...................................... 32 Types of Clouds.......................................................... 33 Clouds in the Atmosphere................................................... 34 Recording Cloud Formations................................................ 35 Weather Weather Fronts........................................................... 36 Weather Symbols......................................................... 38 Hurricanes How Hurricanes Are Found................................................. 40 Name That Hurricane...................................................... 41 Coriolis Effect........................................................... 42 After the Book (Post-reading Activity) Tracking a Hurricane........................................................ 43 Unit Assessment (Culminating Activity) What Did You Learn?........................................................ 46 Related Books and Materials..................................................... 48 #2089 Science/Literature Unit 2 Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
... Inside a Hurricane About the Author Joanna Cole Joanna Cole was born on August 11, 1944, in New York. She attended the University of Massachusetts and Indiana University before receiving her B.A. from the City College of University of New York in 1967. Joanna Cole loved science as a child. I always enjoyed explaining things and writing reports for school. I had a teacher who was a little like Ms. Frizzle. She loved her subject. Every week she had a child do an experiment in front of the room and I wanted to be that child every week, she recalls. It s no surprise that when she was a child Cole s favorite book was Bugs, Insects, and Such. Ms. Cole has worked as an elementary school teacher, a librarian, and a children s book editor. Combining her knowledge of children s literature with her love of science, she decided to write children s books. Her first book was Cockroaches (1971), which she wrote because there had never been a book written about the insect before. I had ample time to study the creature in my low-budget New York apartment! Teachers and children have praised Ms. Cole s ability to make science interesting and understandable. Her Magic School Bus series has now made science funny as well. Cole says that before she wrote this series, she had a goal to write good science books telling stories that would be so much fun to read that readers would read them even without the science component. Readers across the country love the Magic School Bus series and enjoy following the adventures of the wacky science teacher, Ms. Frizzle. Joanna Cole works closely with Bruce Degen, the illustrator for this series, to create fascinating and scientifically accurate books for children. At times, even a successful writer finds it scary to begin writing a new book. That was the way Ms. Cole felt before beginning to write the Magic School Bus series. She says, I couldn t work at all. I cleaned out closets, answered letters, and went shopping anything but sit down and write. But eventually I did it, even though I was scared. Joanna Cole says kids often write their own Magic School Bus adventures. She suggests they just pick a topic and a place for a field trip. Do a lot of research about the topic. Think of a story line and make it funny. Some kids even like to put their own teachers into their stories. #2089 Science/Literature Unit 4 Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
Book Summary... Inside a Hurricane The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane by Joanna Cole (Scholastic, 1986) (Canada, Scholastic; U.K., Scholastic Limited; AUS, Ashton Scholastic Party Limited) Ms. Frizzle and her class are preparing for another field adventure. Most classes take field trips, but with the Friz, it is always an adventure. This time, the class is going to learn all about the weather. They are preparing for their trip by measuring and recording different aspects of the weather, such as temperature, wind speed, and rainfall. Several students are even doing reports on the air and atmosphere. One day, before the class has even finished their experiments about air, the Friz decides it is time to go on their adventure. With parent permission slips in hand, the students board the bus and are on their way to learn about the weather. But this is no ordinary bus; this is a magic bus which can transform into a hot air balloon so that the students can get up close to the weather. Flying high over the tree tops and mountains, the class enters clouds and learns about rain formation. Their portable weather radio warns them of a hurricane developing in the tropics, and the Friz decides to take the class right into the storm (after all, she does have parent permit slips). As the storm builds, the students learn what it takes to create a hurricane and are swept up in the process. It is not long before trouble begins, and the magic bus/balloon begins to fall through the eye of the hurricane. Tumbling through the air, the class manages to scramble back into the bus which now transforms itself into a weather plane. Poor Arnold is left behind! He missed the bus and is now falling towards the ocean. No matter, Ms. Frizzle (truly a professional educator) marks him absent and moves ahead with the lesson. The class and Ms. Frizzle track Arnold s progress as he is picked up by some fishermen and is escorted safely to land. The Friz steers the magic bus over to where Arnold is standing and rescues him. But the worst is not over yet. The magic bus is swept up into a tornado, and the students think they are goners! Fortunately, Ms. Frizzle is an excellent driver, and the tornado s force dies down quickly to allow the class to return safely back to land. The bus pulls into a magic gas station before moving on to the weather station where the students meet with meteorologists and tell their tale. Another exciting field adventure brought to the class by the wild Ms. Frizzle and her magic bus has come to an end. Teacher Created Resources, Inc. 5 #2089 Science/Literature Unit
Before the Book Hot and Cold... Inside a Hurricane Ms. Frizzle s class is preparing for their lesson on weather. The students are busy recording daily temperatures and learning how the sun influences the earth s weather. Just what is temperature anyway? Temperature is actually a measurement of how fast the particles in air or water are moving. If these particles, also known as molecules, are moving quickly, we feel a warm or hot temperature. If these particles are moving slowly, we feel a cool or cold temperature. Try this activity to see the relationship between temperature and the speed of particles. Materials: hot water cold water blue food dye red food dye two clear drinking glasses Procedure: 1. Fill one drinking glass with hot water and the other with cold water. 2. Allow the water to settle until it is standing still. 3. Simultaneously, drop one drop of blue food dye in the cold water and one drop of red food dye in the hot water. Hot Cold Results: The red food dye will spread out quickly as the hot water particles/molecules move quickly. The blue dye will spread out slowly as the cold water particles/molecules move slowly. Closure: 1. How many seconds does it take the hot water to become completely red? 2. How many seconds (minutes) does it take the cold water to become completely blue? Answers (Note: Unless students are to self-check their responses, fold the following answers under before reproducing the page.) 1. This should only take a few seconds. 2. This should take several seconds to several minutes. #2089 Science/Literature Unit 6 Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
Before the Book... Inside a Hurricane Make Your Own Thermometer The thermometer you have in your house usually contains either colored alcohol or a special liquid metal known as mercury. Alcohol thermometers are usually red inside, while mercury thermometers look like they contain silver. However, both work the same way. A thermometer measures temperature by the expanding or contracting of liquid contents. Hot temperatures cause the liquid to expand and rise inside the thermometer. Cold temperatures cause the liquid to contract and fall inside of the thermometer. You can make your own alcohol thermometer. Here is how. Materials: pan cold water hammer clay Procedure: hot water food dye ice nail 1. Use the hammer and the nail to make a hole in the center of the screw-on lid of the plastic bottle. (The hole should be just large enough to allow the straw to enter.) 2. Fill the bottle three-fourths of the way full with alcohol and add a few drops of food dye for color. 3. Insert the straw into the lid so that when the lid is screwed onto the bottle, the straw is about one inch (2.5 cm) below the surface of the alcohol. 4. Screw the lid onto the bottle. Make certain that it is tight. 5. Pack clay tightly around the lid opening to prevent air from entering or escaping from the bottle (not so tightly that it blocks the straw, however). 6. Place your thermometer in a pan. Add hot or cold water and observe the results. 7. Continue trying different temperatures of water in the pan. straw Results: In hot water, the alcohol in the thermometer will expand and rise into the straw. In cold water, the alcohol will contract and will recede from the straw. Closure: 1. Does your thermometer rise and fall to the same level as a classmate s thermometer? rubbing alcohol clear drinking straw empty plastic bottle of drinking water with a screw-on lid 2. How could you calibrate your thermometer? _ Answers (Note: Unless students are to self-check their responses, fold the following answers under before reproducing the page.) 1. No, each thermometer will be unique. 2. Place the homemade thermometer in water next to a real thermometer in the same water. Use a permanent marking pen to mark the degrees on the homemade thermometer. Teacher Created Resources, Inc. 7 #2089 Science/Literature Unit clay alcohol